Toothpick-holder.



C. DICKSON.

TOOTHPICK HOLDER.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 10, 1914.

Patented J 11116 1, 1915.

IIVVENTOR 626212 6) 21" WITNESSES A TTOR/VEYS THE NORkls PETERS 60..PHOTOLITHO.. WASHINGTON. D. C.

CHARLES DICKSON, 0F ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY.

TOOTHPICK-I-IOLDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 1, 1915.

Application filed July 10, 1914. Serial No. 850,170.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, CHARLES DICKSON, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Elizabeth, in the county of Union and State of New Jersey,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Toothpick-Holders,of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to receptacles for articles, such as tooth-picks,matches, and the like, having means for individual delivery of thearticles contained-therein, and one of the main objects is to insure asingle delivery of one of said articles in a single actuation of saiddelivery means.

A further object is to provide readily accessible means for manuallyactuating said delivery means.

A further object is to provide a suitable tray, or equivalent, whereonthe delivered articles are deposited.

A further object is to provide such a receptacle wherein the articlesare protected against contamination from dirt. or dust,

and from handling by persons other than the one actuating the deliverymechanism, as with tooth-picks, and also wherein matches may beprotected against accidental ignition, and against injury from moisture;and further objects are to provide such devices which are simple inconstruction and use, comparatively inexpensive, well adapted to thepurpose for which they are designed, and which may be made very ornate.

My invention is fully set forth in the following specification, of whichthe accompanying drawings form a part, in which the separate parts aredesignated by the same reference characters-in each of the views, and inwhich Figure 1 is a perspective view of a present preferred form ofembodiment of my invention, ready for use; Fig. 2 is a vertical,longitudinal, central section therethrough; Fig. 3 is a vertical,transverse, central section therethrough; Fig. 4 is a detached,perspective, view of the operating element; and Fig. 5 is an enlarged,fragmentary, sectional, view similar to Fig. 3, but showing theoperating element in a different position.

In the drawings forming part of this application I have shown areceptacle formed of end members 6 and 7 and side members 8 and 9,forming a hopper 10, Fig. 3, open at its bottom at 11 and adapted toreceive and contain a plurality of small articles 12,

such as tooth-picks or matches, and said side members 8 and 9 areoutwardly flared and again inwardly, segmentally, to form a cylindricalcasing 13 in communication with the hopper 10 by means of the open slot11 therein, and being also open at its bottom, by means of a slot 14.

The end members 6 and 7 are continued downwardly to form legs 15 and 16,connected by means of a brace 17 and upon which is arranged a tray 18adapted to receive the delivered article, said tray extending forapproximately the full length of the device, and for a predetermineddistance toward each side thereof, so that the deposit of the deliveredarticle on said tray will be assured.

As illustrated, the end members are each formed of a stamping ofrelatively strong and rigid material, and the side members are eachprovided with lugs 19 which are turned over the outer faces of the endmembers and secured in such positions by means of screws 20, orequivalent, whereby a very light, strong, and economical structureresults, readily assembled even by unskilled persons, and I also providea cover 21, preferably eXteriorly flanged to slip over the top of theend and side members forming the hopper 10, said cover, as well as thetray 18, being stampings from sheet metal.

The operating element forming, with the slots 11 and 14 and thecylindrical casing 13, the delivery means comprises a shaft 22 journaledin the end members, at 23, concentric with the casing 13, and carries aturn-button 21 at each end, exteriorly of the device, whereby said shaftmay be rotated, and said shaft also carries similar rollers 25 andsimilar rollers 26 interiorly of the easing 13, the former being of lessdiameter than the latter for a reason later pointed out, whereas thelatter are of the approximate diameter of the interior of the casing 13,whereby said rollers project into the slots 11 and 14 and prevent anyarticles within the hopper from passing downwardly through the casing 13and, as clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the rollers 26 are provided,each with two longitudinally arranged grooves 28 diametrically oppositeeach other of a width and depth slightly exceeding the thickness of thearticle adapted to be delivered.

It will be obvious that, when an article falls into one of the grooves28 of the rollers 26, and the shaft 22 is rotated by means of theturn-button at either end of the device, said article is carrieddownwardly through the casing 13 to the slot 14 and through which itfalls to the tray 18, whence it is removed for use, the rollers 25 areof such diameter that the ends of the article being delivered areengaged thereby to maintain said article in parallelism with the casing13 in the downward movement there of, and the rollers may be made ofyielding or resilient material to insure this result, the relativeposition of the article being delivered being indicated in dotted linesin Fig. l, and it will be apparent'that the rollers are secured on theshaft 22 and revo luble therewith.

I prefer to form the rollers 25 of a diameter approximately equalingthat of the rollers 26 at the bottoms of the diametrically arrangedgrooves 28 when matches are to be contained and delivered by the device,whereas, for toothpicks, I prefer to 7 make the rollers 25 of a slightlygreater diameter in view of the fact that such articles taper toward theends thereof, but this feature is arbitrary and the exact dimensions aresubject to change, as is the material of I the rollers.

While I have shown a definite and preferred form of construction, it ispossible that I may modify the same to meet varying conditions, as fordifierent classes of articles, within the scope of the following claim,Without departing fromc the spirit of my invention, or sacrificing itsadvantages.

and, with such reservation.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:-

A device of the class described, compris-. ing a support, a hopperthereon provided with an opening in the bottom thereof, a cylindricalcasing beneath said hopper'and in communication therewith and open atits bottom, a shaft in said casing and concentric therewith, meansexterior of said casing for rotating said shaft, a grooved rollerarranged centrally of said shaft and approximately of the diameter ofthe'interior of said casing, and complemental rollers carried by saidshaft, adjacent the ends of said casing, of a smaller diameter thantheinterior of said casing.

In testimony whereof name to this specification'in the presence of thesubscribing witnesses. 7

7 CHARLES DIGKSON. WVitnesses i G. H. EMsLm, PHILIP D. ROLLHAJIS'.

(Topics of thispatent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of atents,

Washington, D. G. 1 V

I have signed my

